Summit is always OPTIONAL

-

I never climb a mountain to reach the summit. That’s not the reason why I climb. If I ever do so then it would be curtailing my voyage, my journey since the summit does define a boundary, a limitation beyond which I do not see. And that would indeed be the end of my climbs. Therefore I never understand why climbers all over the world are so hungry for the summit. Why are they in such a rush to reach from where they would have to descend and return? Why don’t we simply seek the trail and route as high and far we can go! It may take us to the geographical summit or it may take us beyond, or it may take us somewhere else altogether.

I never like to reach; I prefer to be on the road, on a journey without an end or a reason. Only by doing so do I reach several summits one after another as they become resting points of my ultimate journey and not an end in themselves. Always arriving and approaching but never reaching and thus life becomes an endless adventure where I seek not to conclude but to continue.

But I do like reaching the summits, only if they happen of their own accord as I climb and as I have said before elsewhere, that to me wherever I reach is my summit. Even when summit is optional and never my primary pursuit I still reach it no matter where I reach. This might only be a way of fooling myself, some of you may opine; but then what’s life if not a foolish pursuit in search of our own destiny that we can never alter but certainly shape.

When I look up from the bottom of the mountain at the summit so far high up shimmering into the blue azure, I take a deep breath and sigh and then tell myself that it is a place where I may never get to and it isn’t important either. But then what’s important is for me to keep on walking and climbing. Since that’s the only thing that I can ever do and is within my control. The summit is never within my reach or control so why get obsessed with it! I will focus on my steps and my breathing and my silent solitude and let the summit take care of itself.

If the mountain feels generous and benevolent then she would allow me a fleeting moment on her crown, else she will tell me to go back and return another day when I am more worthy of her crown. And thus humbled, even when I reach the summit, I return home with another trail, another mountain and another summit within my heart’s eye.

Summit is always optional, getting down is mandatory!

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 11, 2011 at 2:38 PM

    Great things are done when men and mountains meet, so, my friend, go and explore the heights and come back with stories to share and pictures to envy. All the very best for your summit and i do hope, one day, you reach one such summit where you never feel the urge of getting down... :-)
    xxooooxxxx always.

    ReplyDelete
  2. NishithJuly 11, 2011 at 11:17 PM

    Well said, Godspeed!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Talang Pass – following the goat trail from Tang to Holi

-
Image
  Chamba side view from Talang Pass, Mani Mahesh Kailash in the center At 4667m Talang is touted as the highest pass that local shepherds use to cross the Dhauladhar Mountain Range from Kangra to Chamba and back during their annual migration with their herds. This pass had been on my radar for several years and this year since the pandemic put a hold to my international trips, I finally crossed it. In this post I won’t talk much about the pass history itself rather give a factual account of how we crossed it. Suffice to say that till now Talang Pass has very little mention or details online. And I wish to fill up this void through this article. I will also give our exact itinerary that we followed. You would be able to follow the details in this post in case you wish to do this pass unguided by yourself. A word of caution before I begin, that this indeed is a very difficult pass and unless you are an expert hiker with very steady head for heights, in good physical condition and p...
Read more

Singhar Pass (Jot) 4350m – journey to the killer pass

-
Image
  Singhar Pass, temple and view of Chamba side After a brief respite once again my friend Ravinder from Tangroti and I headed up to yet another Dhauladhar pass connecting Kangra with Chamba. This time our objective was the dreaded Singhar Pass, which has also been called the killer pass. To my knowledge, this is the only Dhauladhar Pass that even the Gaddis (shepherds) are bit wary of crossing. Hence trekkers crossing this pass is extremely rare. I know of only one instance before us that of two friends of mine, Rijul and Tarun, both seasoned hikers. A brief mention about the pass altitude. Figures vary about its height but according to my altimeter and referring to Army Survey maps I would place the height between 4330 to 4350m hence I would settle for the higher figure of 4350m. The pass ridge is rather long so it depends at which point you cross it. My estimate of 4350m coincides with the lowest point on the ridge, where the temple is located and to which the trail leads. Now ...
Read more

When I Did Humpty Dumpty (of course i have done it so many times)

-
Image
For a nanosecond, my entire world froze, and stood still. Everything around me merged into a swirl of mist and white, and each cell of my body stopped their designed functions to await the inevitable – the inevitability of danger, the inevitability of destruction, the inevitability of death. For I was going to fall. Stuck like an insignificant spider, at 5800 m on the sheer ice wall of 80 degree on the southwest face of peak Sujtilla (the Needle Peak), I knew that I had lost my purchase – the four points of tempered steel that had held me so far, were now nothing more than extra weights, only aiding gravity to propel me down faster. In that billionth of a second my entire life took an abject distance and I looked at myself with utmost clarity. This is what happened when it happened . I thought of nothing, no last words of wisdom, no visions of how life could have been, no pining for anyone to be close to me, no regrets, no sense of exhilaration, and certainly, no terror...
Read more